Sergio Busquets felt Barcelona “showed we knew how to suffer” against Athletic Bilbao, owing “a lot” of the 2-0 win to goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Ter Stegen denied Aritz Aduriz from giving Athletic the lead in a one-on-one, before keeping out the striker’s header towards the end, prompting Busquets to single out the goalkeeper and praise Barca for their resilience.
“He’s playing at a really great level,” the midfielder said after the game.
“A lot of the victory is down to him because he was vital throughout the game, especially to keep the score at 0-0 and then towards the end, which would have resulted in a draw.
“We found it very tough, especially in the second half. We were better in the first half, and I think we could’ve increased our lead.
“They took more risks in the second and almost played man to man, and the fact we weren’t very clinical motivated them.
“They had chances to draw the game, but we showed we knew how to suffer and ultimately we killed the game off.
“If they take the ball off you under pressure, they can put together a good attack, but if they don’t, we’ll take them on one-on-one, and Leo and Luis are very dangerous in those situations.”
